Hey guys how's going? Excited for the new season to start?! Any who here's the next chapter.

Rick panted as he tried walking in between the railings. If he had the breath he would of laughed at the situation. In the other world his body had grown hard with manual labor & the constant running. Not only was he soft and doughy now but he had also apparently lost the ability to walk.

"You're doing excellent Mr. Grimes." Amy, his psychical therapist, cheered him on. When she walked into his room on the first day Rick couldn't believe his eyes. So many people from the other world were popping up into his life & he couldn't understand it. He hadn't got the chance to get to know Amy very well. He had only been in camp for a day when he decided to go back for the guns & when he returned she had been bitten. He only knew what Andrea told him & after Amy died she didn't talk about her much. Even though he knew it was a dream, the guilt he felt wouldn't let him look into her eyes for to long.

" I think this is good for today." Amy said as she headed over to get Rick's wheelchair.

"No!" Rick raised his voice, "No. I can go on for a bit longer" He pleaded. The hard work made him sore but it also tired him so much he as able to sleep without dreaming.

Amy stared at him for a moment before nodding her head & smiling. "If you say so."

They had continued on for another hour before Amy was able to talk him into being done for the day. "You know, Mr. Grimes at this rate you might be able to go home days sooner than the doctors thought." She said as she pushed him back to his room.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" He smiled

Rick thought of his home once he was tucked into bed. He wasn't blind to the cracks in his family. He saw the way Carl never looked or spoke to his mother anymore then he had to. He noticed how Shane had only to come visit him once & couldn't look him in the eye when he was here. After that day he would send Lori with an excuse that he was busy at the station. They lived in a small town. Not enough happened to keep Shane as busy as he claimed. Rick knew that what he dreamed about with Shane & Lori had happened.

The anger didn't hit him quite as hard as last time. Actually the anger didn't hit him at all. He had lost Lori last time because of his anger he wasn't going to lose her again. He was still hurt by the knowledge but he wasn't going to let it destroy any chance he had to make-up with his wife and maybe even save his friendship with Shane.

He just wasn't sure how he was going to tell them he knew.

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Rick looked at the clock it was now 4:05 and Carl still wasn't there. Carl had come by everyday after school to come visit him coming around 15 til 4. Rick flicked through the TV channels again telling himself that the boy probably just got caught with friends or maybe an after school program. He had been talking about wanting to join some. But when 5:00 rolled around & Lori hadn't shown up either Rick knew something was wrong. " Calm down. Nothing is wrong. I'm sure that they're just busy or something." He thought as he struggled to get out of bed. "It's not like they got caught in a horde of walkers."

He wobbled over to the chair in the corner of the room. Once settled in he dialed his home phone. It rang a few times before someone answered.

"Hello?" A man's voice asked.

"Shane? It's Rick. Can I talk to Carl?" Rick kept down the bubbling emotion that tried to rise when he heard Shane's voice answer.

"Hey man I think you should talk to Lori first." Before Rick could say anything he heard Lori's voice. "Rick, is everything OK?"

"Yeah I was just wondering where you and Carl are? You didn't come to visit." Rick knew he sounded pathetic but he didn't care. He knew that they had lives to live, that they couldn't spend every waking moment with him but after the hell he went through or at least though he went through he had to know that they were safe.

"I'm sorry. Carl got into a fight today at school & we've been dealing with that. It'll probably be a while before he can come down and see you again. He's currently grounded."

"What was the fight about?"

Lori sighed. " I don't know. He refuses to tell me." Rick heard the sadness in her voice.

"Let me talk to him. Maybe I can get it out of him." There was silence on the phone before Lori said OK. He heard her call for Carl twice, second time informing him that his father was on the phone. Instead of hearing the phone being passed on, Carl had picked up the phone from a different part of the house.

"So what's this I hear about you getting into a fight?" Rick asked once Lori hung up her phone.

"Are you going to start in on me too?"

"I'm just wondering what was so bad that you had to get into a fight, getting yourself into trouble & now I can't see you?"

"It wasn't my fault." Carl said after a moment of silence. "That doughebag called Mom a whore. Called you brain-dead."

Rick ran his fingers through his hair & sighed at its length. He wasn't use to how short it was.

" Dad, I need to you tell about Shane & Mom"

"I know Carl. I know about it."

Carl was quiet for so long Rick had thought he hung up. "Carl? You still there?"

"So what are you going to do about it?" Carl finally asked.

"I don't know. But I do know I still love your mother & Shane. I'm sorry that you're dealing with this but we, the adults, will figure out the situation once I come home."

"How can you still love her?"

"Carl in the other world your mother dies thinking we hated her. That guilt drove me mad. I was unable to take care of you or your sister. It was a battle to get up everyday, thinking on how the people I loved were no longer there & how it was my fault. I know that world isn't real but Carl it felt real! All the pain, all the love everything was real to me. I'm not going to make that mistake again. They made a mistake but they still love you. If anything were to happen to them you'd never get over this."

Rick could practically hear the Carl thinking over the phone. "OK."

Rick heard Lori's muffled voice. "I gotta go Dad, I'll call ya tomorrow after school yeah?"

Rick smiled. "Sounds great. Give your mother my love."

They said their good-byes then hung up. Rick leaned back in the chair. Suddenly a new strength came over him as he walked back over to his bed.

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Carl wandered into the Kitchen where his mother was cooking. He leaned against the wall not saying anything.

"How was your talk with your father?" Lori asked.

Carl ignored her question. "I'm mad at you about Shane. It was cool for a while but he's not my dad I'm sick of him trying to be."

Lori turned to face her son. She didn't say anything but nodded her head at him, allowing him to say what he needed to say.

"Dad knows about you and Shane. No, I didn't tell him. Not even when he was still in his coma so I don't know how he knows but he does." Carl paused. "But he still loves you. And I- I do too. I'm still mad at you." He clarified. "But thinking about dad being in a coma made me think, I want you to know that."

Lori couldn't keep the tears from falling down her face as she walked over to give him a hug. Carl remained stiff at first but then leaned into it. For a quick moment he wrapped his arms around her & held her tight before letting go.

Lori wiped the tears off her face. "I love you too. I"m sorry about Shane. I'll talk to him."

Carl nodded at his mother before leaving the room.

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